Laurent Bit Bella In the Meadow
by middaydreamer
Summary: A continuation from New Moon with a twist. All characters & some content fully belong to Stephenie Meyer and Little Brown publishers. My intent was to write this story as if this was what really happened in the book.I wrote this for pleasure,nothing else!
1. Chapter 1

_Laurent bit Bella in the meadow. . ._

_Chapter 1_

. . . . . I stared at him in horror.

He sniffed at the breeze that blew threads of my hair in his direction. "Mouthwatering," he repeated, inhaling deeply.

I tensed for the spring, my eyes squinting as I cringed away, and the sound of Edward's furious roar echoed distantly in the back of my head. His name burst through all the walls I'd built to contain it. Edward, Edward, Edward. I was going to die. It shouldn't matter if I thought of him now. Edward, I love you.

Through my narrowed eyes, I watched as Laurent bent down in to a low crouch, and then I closed my eyes; not wanting the last thing I should see alive is my killer's face. No, I closed my eyes and envisioned Edward; my subconscious had stored Edward away in flawless detail, saving him for this final moment. I could see his perfect face as if he were really there; the exact shade of his icy skin, the shape of his lips, the line of his jaw, the gold glinting in his furious eyes.

It was then at that moment, that I felt a sharp and intense pain slashing through my skin at the base of my throat. And I could feel cool icy lips sucking the life out of me.

The pain was so beyond anything I could use words to describe; I couldn't squirm or try to break free for he had me pinned down by his crushing weight (not that trying to fight him would have done me any good, I stood no chance). Yet as I started to drift out of consciousness and into my death, I felt a change.

I could no longer feel Laurent's deadly lips against my skin but I still could feel his weight pressing down onto me. And then I noticed a few things happen at once, but I was still not fully aware of what was happening - I was too weak to.

Just as sudden as Laurent's body was on top of me, it felt like he was gone. I could dimly hear a furious snarl and some wild growling. Not the same kind of growl that came from a vampire, this growling was closer to one a wild animal. A large wild animal. A vicious large wild animal. The new growling instantly became louder and sounded as if it was coming not from one wild beast but many.

As I began to ponder what this new terror could be, one that was freighting enough and strong enough to pull a very skilled terrifying vampire away from its prey while it was feeding, a new pain distracted me.

A pain as if someone was burning me.

At first the pain was so bad that I couldn't make sense of what was happening. My body rejected the pain, and I was sucked again and again into blackness that cut out whole seconds or even minutes of the agony.

Yet as I felt the flame ignite from my throat and head straight for my heart, I could once again hear strange voices. It was then that I realized that Laurent could not have killed me, not yet at least. None the less I was hurt, No! I was dying, because, the pain was too surreal for me to be just hurt. So I decided to open my eyes and find the source of these strange and yet somehow familiar voices.

When I opened my eyes, the sight that I saw was one that left me bewildered beyond my wildest dreams. I had opened my eyes only to look up into the face of Jacob Black. Jake? How could this be? Surely I was mistaken from earlier, and I have died and gone to heaven. There could be no other explanation, and yet even as I thought this through, I knew I was alive. For at that moment, the flame that was burning increased. The pain was like grabbing the wrong end of a curling iron but only it was worse, much, much worse.

I was still staring into Jacob's dark eyes as the burning grew, when I noticed Jake's lips were moving and I could not hear anything he said. I realized I couldn't hear him because, all I could hear was this loud ear splitting screech. As I tried to speak, to tell Jacob to stop the burning, no words would come out of my mouth. There was a simple explanation of this; of course, it was the source and reason of the high-pitched screeching I heard. The sound was me, screaming. I was in so much pain; no I was in complete and total agony.

I was burning; I was becoming a newborn vampire. Because Laurent had bit me, but he had not had the chance to finish killing me. Because something or someone must have stopped him, possibly scared him away (highly unlikely, but I was willing to bet anything was possible now). Thus my next questions are: 'But who?', 'And how?', 'And what about Jacob?'. As I looked up at Jacob's face I noticed that he was not alone.

Sam Uley, Embry, and a few other guys from La Push were standing behind Jacob. Again I tried to talk to Jake, to ask what happened and why he was here with the La Push "gang", but at that instant the burning grew again and rose and peaked until it surpassed anything I'd ever felt.

I had to close my eyes. The pain was so bad I forgot all about Laurent. I forgot all about Jacob. I forgot all about the guys from La Push. I forgot all about my piercing screams. All I could remember, all I could think about was the burning.

I felt the pulse behind the fire raging now in my chest and realized that it was the quickening beat of my heart; just in time to wish that I never had come to any realizations. I began to wish for and would have embraced the blackness of death from Laurent. I started to pray that Laurent would come back and finish me off once and for all. I wanted to raise my arms and claw my chest open and rip my heart from it, anything to get rid of the torture.

The pain of the glass cutting into my arms the night of my birthday party and the pain of my head hitting the asphalt as I crashed the motorcycle, both combined was nothing. Nothing at all to what I was feeling now. That was floating in a pool of cool water. I'd take it a thousand times. Take it and be grateful.

James snapping my leg under his foot. That was nothing. That was a soft place to rest on a feather bed. I'd take that now, a million times. A million snaps. I'd take it and be grateful.

The fire blazed hotter and I wanted to scream, maybe I already was, but I couldn't tell. I wanted to beg for someone to kill me now, before I lived one more second in this pain. Yet I couldn't, because there was a weight there, pressing on me.

It was as if the darkness was holding me down, so heavy. Burying me in the flames that were chewing their way out from my heart now, spreading with impossible pain through my shoulders and stomach, scalding their way up and down from my throat, and then licking at my face.

It was then I grasped that darkness was not holding me down; someone else was holding me back and I was still screaming. I then forced myself to stop screaming; I then realized that screaming would not help me. _Nothing_ could help me now, so I assumed that it would be better to keep silent. I was convinced in trying to distract myself from the pain, even if only for a second or for just the smallest bit of relief.

At that instant all I wanted was to die. To never be born. The whole of my existence did not outweigh this pain. Wasn't worth living through it for one more heartbeat.

Let me die, let me die, let me die.

And for a never-ending space, that was all there was. Just the fiery torture, my soundless shrieks, and my pleading for death to come. Nothing else, not even time, so that made it infinite, with no beginning and no end. One infinite moment of pain.

The only change came when suddenly, impossibly, my pain was doubled. The lower half of my body was suddenly on fire, too.

The endless burn raged on.

It could have been seconds or days, weeks, or years, but, eventually, time came to mean something again.

Three things happened together, grew from each other so that I didn't know which came first: time restarted, the heavy weight was lifted, and I got stronger.

I could now remember why I didn't want to scream. I could remember the reason why I was enduring this unendurable agony. The reason why I was not dead, as I should be, but burning - becoming a newborn vampire.

This happened just in time for me to hold on when the pressure left my body. To anyone watching me, there would be no change. But for me, as I struggled to keep the screams and thrashing locked up inside my body, it felt like I'd gone from being tied to the stake as I burned, to gripping that stake to hold myself in the fire.

I had just enough strength lie there unmoving while I was charred alive.

My hearing got clearer and clearer, and I could count the frantic, pounding beats of my heart to mark the time.

I could count the shallow breaths that gasped through my teeth.

I could count the low but frantic hot breaths that came from somewhere beside me. The closest breath to me, felt as if it was coming from above me, and the more I focused on it, the more I began to realize that whoever was breathing above me, must be holding me. I could now feel someone's smooth but sweltering hot skin against my own. Whoever was holding me, was holding me close against them.

The person who was holding me was breathing at a more steady and even pace. I decided that I would count their breaths to keep track of time. This hot steady breath meant the most time passing. More than an even tick of a clock, the hot breath pulled me through the burning seconds towards the end.

I continued to get stronger, my thoughts clearer. When noises came, I could listen.

The other hot and frantic breath soon became steady and even just as the breathing coming from so close to me. Suddenly I could smell this awful smell that made nose wrinkle, the scent oddly reminded me of a wet dog. As I slowly grew slightly use to the smell, I could her lithe footsteps approaching me. I then felt a slight pressure against the inside of my wrist. The fingers that were touching me were sweltering hot.

"Shouldn't there be a change by now?" an unfamiliar male voice spoke from beside me.

"I don't know; he said this could take three to 4 days, maybe more maybe less." The voice that spoke this was one that I recognized, it was my Jacob.

"But she isn't even moving."

"I Know. Listen to her heart, it's beating faster."

"Maybe we were too late. Maybe she is just dying…"

"No! SHUT UP! We were NOT too late!" it seemed like it took everything in Jacob to not shout these last words at the top of his lungs. Then more gently and lower Jake spoke again, "Bella? Can you hear me?".

I knew, beyond all doubt, that if I unlocked my teeth I would lose it; I would shriek and screech and writhe and thrash. If I opened my eyes, if I so much as twitched a finger, or any change at all would be the end of my control.

Jacob still speaking softly, "Bella? If you can hear me open your eyes or squeeze my hand, or shoot just give me some sign."

He was then holding my hand lightly in his hot hand. It was hard not to answer him, but I stayed paralyzed. Even when I could hear the desperate plea in his voice; I knew this was hurting him, but I also knew I would hurt him more if he knew I was suffering in any way.

"Jake, Dude, she's still not moving…"

"She'll be fine!", Jake practically growled out the words.

Yes, I was right to keep quiet. He didn't need to suffer with me.

I felt a faint hot pressure inside the crease of my elbow. Then Jacob's broken whisper, "Bella, I'm sorry. We shouldn't have waited…but don't worry the blood sucker is gone and he'll never hurt you or anyone else again."

I wanted so much to be able to speak to him. To ask him what he was sorry for, none of this was his fault. I didn't want him feeling guilty, this was my entire fault, and I just wished I could have let him known that, but that will have to wait. As will the other million of questions I have for him. For example: what did Jacob mean when he said, `the blood sucker is gone…'. There's no possible way Jake meant Laurent was dead. Vampires are indestructible except maybe at the hands of another vampire. There was no logical explanation, there was no way that this could ever be true. Could there?

Through all this, the raging fire went on burning me. But there was so much space in my head now. Room to ponder their conversation, room to remember what had happened to put me here, room to look ahead to the future (a dark future), and with still endless room left over to suffer in.

Also room to worry.

If I was turning into a newborn vampire then surely, Jake and whoever was with him was in danger. Yes, they were in grave danger, from me.

Edward would never tell me much about newborn vampires, but from what he had said was enough to make it very clear that newborns were extremely dangerous in every worse way possible. Newborns were supposed to be super strong, have short tempers, and most of all they were ALWAYS thirsty.

If being constantly thirsty was going to be my strongest personal trait as a newborn, then I want to be and should be, as far away as possible from any humans. Especially the ones I knew and cared about. If I ended up hurting Jake or anyone else, how could I live with myself?

I had been dreaming of being a newborn vampire in my days with Edward. Yet in those dreams, I was a good a vampire, a "_vegetarian_", I was just like the rest of the Cullens.

Although the Cullens are gone from my life, that does not mean I have to give into temptation. That does not mean I have to become a killer. If Carlisle fought temptation for more then 300 years now, then certainly I can follow his footsteps and do the same. In fact I swear to myself that I will never bite or kill any human. I am going to be a good vampire, no matter what it takes.

Just then the strange male voice spoke calmly but with a small hint of sadness in his tone, "Jake, what about the pack? Aren't you worried about them at all?"

"The pack isn't big enough to spread out this far, especially since we left." Jake's tone of voice had a small ring of authority to it.

I was very confused by the turn of the conversation. What did they mean by "the pack" and who was this boy with Jake? As I tried to wrap my head around this bit of information, I got a new symptom. Guilt. I felt guilty for dragging Jacob into the world of the supernatural, a world that he was not suppose know anything about. Yet the more I listened to them talk the more it seemed like Jacob already knew about this supernatural world. It was also clear that he was keeping a secret from me. A secret that I would find out first chance I got! A secret that Billy Black had to be in on, yet it was Billy himself who said Jake was suppose to be in Port Angeles with friends for the day. Still, here was Jake and some kid waiting around for me to come to and be a vampire. Ugh! I was like the plague. I should be quarantined.

Suddenly I could hear the unknown boy walk to other side of my body. By this point I was extremely frustrated, and their conversation seemed to have come to a close for the time being. As I was listening and hoping for further explanations, I began to wonder if they were talking so mysteriously just to annoy me?

So I went back to counting Jacob's breaths to mark the time.

Ten thousand, nine hundred forty-three breaths later, they started another conversation.

"Hey man. How much longer do you think we got to wait?"

Jacob sighed and then answered, "It can't be too much longer, it's already been two days."

"Yo, you spouse she's gonna be alright?", the boy asked fully concerned.

"Sure, sure."

"Really? You weren't so sanguine two days ago."

Jake replied in a voice that showed that he was about too lose his calm again, "That's because two days ago we had to leave the pack in order to protect her. I don't care what Sam says, no matter if Bella turns into a blood sucker or not, I can not and will not let anything happen to her." Jake said the last part more vehemently then the rest.

"Yeah I agreed remember? Calm down will ya? Anyways it still can't be too much longer; look how pretty she looks, the smell is starting to get awful, and look how…pale she is…." The unknown boy trailed off as he spoke.

Jacob didn't answer, but the strange boy's words gave me hope that maybe I didn't resemble the charcoal briquette I felt like. It seemed to me as if I must be just a pile of charred bones by now. Every cell in my body had been razed to ash.

I began to wonder, how many more seconds would I burn? Ten thousand? Twenty? Another day-eighty six thousand, four hundred? More than that?

I then realized that I could hear and smell _everything_. I could hear the swish of fabric as they shifted and moved beside me. It seemed like I could hear every living creature in a three-mile radius. Not to mention the smells, although the wet dog smell was still strong, I could smell every tree, leaf, and _all_ the little forest animals close by. It was then that it finally dawned on me, we must still be outside, the sounds and smells were far too strong for us not to be. But I didn't find any of this interesting enough to distract me from the pain, so I listened to Jacob's breathing again, counting the seconds.

Twenty-one thousand, nine hundred seventeen and a half seconds later, the pain changed.

On the good-news side of things, the fire started to fade from my fingertips and toes. Fading _slowly_, but at least it was doing something new. This had to be it. The pain was on its way out. . . .

And then the bad news: The fire inside my heart got hotter.

How was that possible?

My heartbeat, already too fast, picked up-the fire drove its rhythm to a new frantic pace.

The fire retreated from my palms, leaving them blissfully pain free and cool. But it retreated to my heart, which blazed hot as the sun and beat at a furious new speed.

The unknown male and Jacob were now pacing beside me. Their footsteps were so distinct; I could even tell that Jacob was on my right and the strange boy pacing to the left.

"Listen," Jake told him. "It's almost over…. I think."

The excruciating pain in my heart overshadowed my relief at his words.

My wrists were free, though, and my ankles. The fire was totally extinguished there.

It was then when my fingers twitched, for the briefest moment, that I almost lost complete control on my perfect façade. Jacob and the boy were silent except for the jack hammering of my heart and now the slightly quickened beats of theirs. I suppose their hearts now reacted to the pace of mine.

A sweltering hot hand then squeezed my wayward fingers. "Bella? Can you hear me?"

Could I answer him without screaming? I considered that for a moment, and then the fire ripped hotter still through my chest, draining in from my elbows and knees. Better not chance it.

"You better get into position.", Jake spoke to the boy in a very commanding voice.

And then- _OH! _

My heart took off, beating like helicopter blades, the sound almost a single sustained note; it felt like it would grind through my ribs. The fire flared up in the center of my chest, sucking the remnants of the flames from the rest of my body to fuel the most scorching blaze yet. The pain was enough to stun me, to break through my iron grip on the stake. My back arched, bowed as if the fire was dragging me upward by my heart.

I allowed no other piece of my body to break rank as my torso slumped back to the ground.

It became a battle inside me-my sprinting heart racing against the attacking fire. Both were losing. The fire was doomed, having consumed everything that was combustible; my heart galloped toward its last beat.

The fire constricted, concentrating inside that one remaining human organ with a final, unbearable surge. The surge was answered by a deep, hallow sounding thud. My heart stuttered twice, and then quietly thudded again just once more.

The only sound was the outdoors and their frantic heartbeats. No one was breathing. Not even me.

For a moment, the absence of pain was all I could comprehend. And then I opened my eyes and gazed above me in wonder.


	2. Chapter 2

_Laurent bit Bella in the meadow. . ._

_Chapter 2 Oh…..Sorry!_

EVERYTHING WAS SO _CLEAR._

Sharp. Defined.

I could plainly see each illuminating ray of sunshine coming from the sun. I could see every color of the rainbow in the rays of light, and at the very edge of the spectrum, and eighth color I had no name for.

Beyond the sun, I could easily distinguish each tiny leaf on all the small branches of every insignificant shrub nearby. Looking around, I saw that I was in an unfamiliar forest and, as I was taking the scenery in, I remembered that I was not alone. I looked first to my right, that was where I last remembered Jake being. He was still there.

As my gaze met Jacob's eyes and I could see his full face, I went into shock. He was so beautiful, that for a moment all I could do was to stare at him. This moment seemed to last for hours when really it was all less than a second after I opened my eyes. And as I looked upon Jake I finally took my first breath of air since my heart stopped beating. Air whistled down my throat, swirling bits of pollen into a vortex. The action immediately felt wrong. I considered this, and realized the problem was that there was no relief tied to the action, not to mention the horrid smell of wet dogs drowning me with such a powerful scent that it burned. Nonetheless I knew now that I didn't need the air. My lungs weren't waiting for it. They reacted indifferently to the influx.

And as I took that first breath of air, a few things happened all at the same moment before I could finish inhaling.

The first being two pairs of sweltering hot hands was pinning me down to the ground. Then just as my body felt these strange hands restraining me, my new vampire instincts took over.

Air hissed up my throat, spitting through my clenched teeth with a low, menacing sound like a swarm of bees. Before the sound was out, my muscles bunched and arched, slightly twisting away from the unknown. My body was trying to break away from the strange restraining hands but, the two pair of hands had an amazing strong hold on me. This made me want to break free even more. As my body started to push against the hands, I could feel this new strength flowing through out my body, I felt invincible.

I gathered all of the power I could get and within a split second my body sprung free from its restraints. I then spun around so fast that everything should have been an incomprehensible blur-but it was not. I saw every bit of pollen, every blade of grass, every stone and pebble on the ground, every single twig in microscopic detail as my eyes whirled past them.

Less than a sixteenth of a second later I was crouched low and was ready to pounce onto my enemies. The venom in mouth was swirling about and just ever so slightly burning. As my body was getting ready to spring into action, it was then that I looked once again into the face of Jacob Black.

Oh. Of course my Jacob. He was just trying to protect himself, from me. Jake is not the threat, I am.

I held my pose for an eighth of a second longer, adjusting to the scene before me.

Jake was standing a few feet away, his arms raised as if to embrace me or rather restrain me. Jacob's jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were full of caution, not fear, and this above all surprised me. Shouldn't Jake be terrified of me if he knows what I have become, and at this thought all the millions of questions I had but could not ask while I was burning, returned to me.

Yet I knew my questions had to wait a while longer so I slowly stood up.

Even as Jacob's face recaptured my attention for the third time now; I was using my peripheral vision to catalogue everything else, just in case. My instinct to defend had been triggered, and I automatically searched for any sign of danger.

I looked to my left and discovered that the unknown male voice that was with Jake was not and unknown male at all. It was Seth Clearwater. Seth was in a similar pose as Jake but his face showed more fear than anything else. I let my nostrils flare as I took in another breath but I instantly regretted it. The stench of wet dog was impossibly stronger than ever! Then to make matters worse I could feel the heat coming from Seth and Jake's bodies. My throat burned in response. I decided then that it would be best if I stopped breathing for a while.

Still all of this was a sideline, what with all this extra room in my head. The greater part of my senses and my mind were still focused on Jacob's face.

I had never seen it before this second.

How many times have I looked onto Jake's face while we were inside his garage or out by the beach sitting on our log?

I may as well have been blind.

For the first time, with the dimming shadows and limiting weakness of humanity taken off my eyes, I saw his face. I gasped, which of course meant I inhaled more of that horrid stench, where was that coming from anyways? Though I noticed that this time the scent didn't bother me as bad as the last. I suppose that I was getting use to the smell. I figured if I was gonna have to deal with the smell eventually, so rather sooner than later. Despite the fact that I didn't have to breathe, I liked it.

Still with all of this passing in only a couple of seconds, I wanted to speak with Jake, yet I was at a lost for words. I couldn't figure out where to begin. So I continued to stare at Jake's face, I was motionless again. Like a statue, exactly like a statue.

Then after what seemed for a never ending second Jacob finally broke the silence.

"Bells?" he asked in his deep husky yet somehow magical voice.

I could not answer immediately, lost as I was in the silkiness of his voice and the beauty of his face. His voice was the most perfect symphony, a symphony in one instrument, an instrument more profound than any created by man…….

Back in my days as a human I could only think of one voice that would sound so beautiful as Jake's , and that was Edward's voice. And as a small part of my now large mind thought about Edward; I realized that I could now go back to all my memories of Edward and the rest of the Cullens and I no longer felt that hole in my heart. I felt like I never had a hole at all, as if the hole had never existed. The part of me that was still in love with Edward, the part that was still clinging onto him, the part that had me doing reckless things just so I could hear his voice inside of my head must have been a human weakness.

Suddenly Jake spoke again, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Bella, I know you are upset that we had to restrain you but we had to do it, I'm sorry. But I am gonna ask that u chill out and not attack us. I know you have every right to be mad at me for the way that I have been acting lately , and I am so so so so so sorry that we weren't able to save u in time from that bloodsucker. I'll understand if you will want to finish me off, but first I'm begging you just to give me the chance to explain myself."

What!? Is he really asking me for forgiveness? He is pleading with me to explain, he defiantly doesn't have to plead with me to explain anything, I WANT explanations! Yet how could he blame any of this on his self! This is all my fault! I should be apologizing to him! In more ways than one. I just didn't understand anything. I was so confused I wasn't sure how to respond.

So my mind spun out yet again, spiraling back to my last human hour. Already, the memory seemed dim, like I was watching through a thick, dark veil-because my human eyes had been half blind. Everything had been so blurred.

I remembered Laurent biting me and was bout to finish me off, then he was suddenly gone. I remember hearing some strange sounds……and we were in the meadow but now as I look around this forest looks nothing like the one's back in Forks or La Push. So where are we? How did we get here? Who or What stopped Laurent. How did Jake and Seth get so strong. What day is it? How long was I burning? And where in the hell is that damn wet dog smell coming from!?

And what about Charlie? He must be going insane with worry. But what would I tell him if I had the chance to talk to him? What did he think has happened to me? I certainly cant see him in person ever again, I couldn't risk his life like that…

As I deliberated for one small piece of a second over which question to ask first, Jacob reached out with his hand to take my own hand in his. This time I was a bit more prepared to what his touch would feel like.

Jacob's skin was smooth as satin, soft as a feather and holy crow! He was HOT! Of course I must have felt freezing cold to him, but I couldn't help but to wonder if he should feel this hot to me? I know Edward would say my skin was hot compared to his but surely he couldn't have meant this hot, could he? Is this what I felt like to him? Or am I a freak among freaks and I'm the only extra cold vampire in the world! Ugh! It would be just my luck as well.

And as Jake held my hand his touch seemed to sweep beneath the surface of my skin, right through the bones of my hand. The feeling was electrifying in a way. It jolted through my bones, down my spine, and trembled all the way into my stomach.

Wait, I thought as the trembling blossomed into a warmth, a yearning. This was all happening so fast, all too soon, all too much at one time. My feelings for Edward have finally ceased and I immediately start have these yearnings and longings for Jacob . In fact those words are insufficient to describe of how I'm really feeling for Jake right now. It feels like Jake is my whole universe that I belong to him and he belongs to me and, when I look into his eyes I feel this gravitational pull towards him. I feel like a blind woman looking at the sun for the very first time. How odd?…..

Then uncontrollably I threw myself at Jacob and hugged him around his waist _tightly_. And when I moved, it was like there was no movement. One moment I stood straight and still as a statue; in the same instant, he was in my arms. There as we hugged I pressed my face into his smooth chest and, I made the huge mistake of taking a breath in.

Finally I discovered the source of the horrid wet dog smell! It was coming from Jake! I quickly removed my face from Jacob's chest and looked up to see his face.

When suddenly Jacob shifted his weight uncomfortably. Leaned away from my embrace. I stared up at his face, confused and frightened by the rejection.

"Um…..Bells?… _Ow_. Your hurting me."

I yanked my arms away, folding them behind my back as soon as I understood.

I was too strong.

"Oh….Sorry," I mouthed.

He smiled my favorite Jacob grin, it was the kind of smile that would have stopped my heart if it was still beating.

"Bella don't be ridiculous! If anyone has anything to be sorry for its me. You don't have to apologize to me for anything. I blame myself for letting this happen, when it didn't have to," Jacob said this as if he was pleading with me.

My eyebrows pushed together. Not only was I baffled that Jake was still trying to apologize to me but, for the briefest moment I forgot that I was a new born vampire. And now that I am a vampire I get super strength, super hearing, super sight, well super everything. It was just the point that I never in my whole life have hugged anyone so tight that I made them say _OW_.

I could see that being a vampire was going to take some getting use to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Laurent Bit Bella in the Meadow**

**Chapter 3**

**You're a what?!**

As I stood in front of Jake my mind started to drift towards my un-answered questions. I knew I couldn't wait another second longer without finally asking one. So I thought that I would start out with a simple one.

"Um….Jake, Where are we?" and as I spoke, my words sounded as if I was singing. My voice rang and shimmered like a bell. How strange all of this was, I could hardly recognize myself speaking.

"We're somewhere in Canada," he said, giving my hand a slight squeeze as he did so.

Another wave of desire rippled through my entire body, but I knew I had to remain focused on getting some answers. So I brought my full attention back to his answer.

Yet as I did so I was almost sure that I had heard Jake wrong, that I couldn't have heard what he said properly because I was so distracted in my own emotions. However, I knew that I really didn't need to ask him twice, my new hearing was not faulty.

My next question would simply have to be, "But how and why are we in Canada?"

It was Seth who replied to me, "Well that's kind of a long story ….", he drifted into a silence as Jacob gave him a long hard stare.

Jacob spoke next, "Actually Bella, I think it would be best if I started from the beginning," as he said this he released my hand and took a deep slow breath in and started to pace back and forth. "Do you remember the first day we met-on the beach in La Push?"

Though my human memories were cloudy, I could still remember that day, how could I forget it. It was the first day that I learned of vampires, the day I learned of what I have now become. "Of course I do," I replied in sweet melody.

"Then you remember the scary stories I told you?"

I wasn't sure where this was going or what it had to do with our current situation but I answered anyways, "Yes, Jake you told me about vampires and the Cullens."

" I told you more than just about the Cullens! Of course you remember that part the most!", he raised his voice angrily as he said this.

I let my mind go back to the hazy memory, I couldn't remember the whole memory, just parts of it. "You also told me about your tribes legends."

"Yea I told you about the Quileute legends, where the Quileutes come from," as he spoke he got more anxious.

I was getting more uncomfortable of where this was all going but, I thought I would give another try at the memory. I found if put my full focus entirely upon this memory I could remember it better. As I looked back I could remember now Jake talking about a great flood, and he spoke about the Quileutes descending from the wolves. And then it all hit me at once, the memory was flooding my mind; Jacob had said that vampires had only one enemy, the werewolves.

My body was stiff, completely frozen, I had turned into a statue. Could this be the answer to all of my questions? The reason why Jake had been acting so strange lately….. I then wondered if this meant that every fairy tale was grounded with absolute truth. How could it be that the only human I'd ever been able to relate to, wasn't even human!

Why did everything have to be so messed up for me? Does everyone I love have to be a mythical creature, but as I thought this a voice in the back of my mind reminded me that I too was now a mythical creature. Which made everything even worse. I had turned into the only enemy of my best friend, of the person I loved…….

Wait no I had no time to think about my feelings right now, I have more pressing matters to deal with than my emotions. Not only was I dangerous to Jacob, but I was his natural enemy. Though I didn't feel like I was enemies with Jake, I only felt…..

NO no no no no no! I can't think about this now. I had to focus again. I could realize now that there was no cult. There had never been a cult, never been a gang. There was a pack of werewolves.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed since Jake had last spoke, but I saw that he had stopped pacing and was staring at me. All that I could say was, "Werewolf," it would have been inaudible to human ears. I wasn't sure that Jake heard me until he nodded his head and broke out into his Jacob grin. That grin sent trembles down to my stomach, so I forced myself to focus.

"Yes! I knew you would remember!"

I couldn't say anything, I was still trying to absorb what I just learned. I remained silent again and completely still.

Jacob started to pace when he spoke again, "Don't you see Bella? The whole reason why I have been avoiding you, well a couple of reasons actually. I wasn't suppose to tell you our secret, for one thing, but the other part is that it wasn't safe for you. If I had got too mad…too upset…you could have been hurt. But none of that is the case now…."

Of course none of that would be the problem now, I was the one who was endangering him. In my days with Edward all I wanted was to become a vampire, so I could be with him but, now that Edward was gone and I'm a vampire, I wanted just the opposite. I guess I should have been more careful for what I wished for.

My mind was spinning when Jake started speaking again, "You see Bella, I had to keep a hold of myself, I can't get angry or upset, I don't want to lose you."

I gained enough of control of myself to speak, "What would happen …if you got too mad?" I whispered.

"I'd turn into a wolf," he whispered back.

"You don't need a full moon?"

He rolled his eyes. "Hollywood's version doesn't get much right." Then he sighed, and was serious again.

"Why didn't you trust me, you know I would keep your secret," my voice was full of hurt as I spoke.

"But that's just the thing Bells, I wanted to tell you, except at the time I literally couldn't tell you. Sam told me I couldn't tell you. Sam is the head of the pack, he's the Alpha. So when he tells us to do something, or not to do something-when he really means it, well, we can't just ignore him. It's kind of a wolf thing."

"Oh, …how… weird," was the best response I could think of.

"Yeah, there's a load of stuff like that-wolf things. I'm still learning, or was… I can't imagine what it was like for Sam, trying to deal with this alone. It sucks bad enough to go through it with a whole pack for support."

"Sam was alone?" I asked astonished.

"Yeah." Jacob's voice lowered. "When I…changed, it was the most… horrible, the most terrifying thing I've ever been through-worse than anything I could have imagined. But I wasn't alone-there were the voices there, in my head, telling me what had happened and what I had to do. That kept me from losing my mind, I think. But Sam…" He shook his head. "Sam had no help."

Voices inside his head, he was starting to sound like a mad man! "Jake, when you say you heard voices in your head….." I trailed off, not sure how to continue.

He frowned. "Well you see, when we're wolves, we can…hear each other. Not hear sounds," he went on, "but we can hear…thoughts-each other's anyway-no matter how far away from each other we are. It really helps when we hunt, but it's a big pain otherwise. It's embarrassing-having no secrets like that. Freaky, eh?" By this point he had stopped pacing.

"What do you mean when you say _hunt_?" surely Jacob didn't mean that the pack was hunting…people…did he?

At this Jake wasn't just frowning he looked as if he was in pain. "Don't you remember Bella, we call ourselves the protectors. We were trying to do our job, Bella. We were trying to protect the missing hikers, but we were always just a little too late."

"Protect them from what? Is there really a bear out there, too?" even as I asked this, I already knew the real answer, I just didn't want to believe it.

Jacob looked more worried than ever, "Bella, it's the reason why we exist. We only protect people from one thing- our one enemy." Jake had got quieter towards the end but he hurriedly went on, "Of course you need not worry Bella, Seth and I would not do anything to harm you, we would only protect you and help you. Please don't be afraid."

I was baffled, how could he think I would be afraid of him? He should be afraid of me, I was the one who was invincible…."So it was Laurent killing all of those people…" I whispered.

Jacob blinked twice, and cocked his head to one side. "Who's Laurent?"

"He is the one that bit me, the one that made me change…." I couldn't continue on. I was trying to sort out the chaos in my head to one side, when it all hit me. "Jake! We have to go back! Laurent is still out there! He could still be killing people…"but I didn't finish what I was saying, Jacob was grinning. What's wrong with him? How could this be funny?

"Bella if you are talking about the black-haired leech, then you have nothing to worry about we killed him," he grinned even bigger. "So that's what his name was, _Laurent_!" and he rolled his eyes.

I was stunned. "What were you thinking?" I whispered. "He could have killed you! Jake, you don't realize how dangerous he is, how dangerous I….." and I couldn't finish.

"Bella, one vampire alone isn't much of a problem for a big pack. It was quite easy actually…" it was his turn to trail off.

I wasn't sure what I was hearing, of what Jacob was trying to tell me. Even with all of this extra room in my head I couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Bella please don't get mad, but we had to kill that bloodsucker. Especially after what he did to you, and what he has done to all of those hikers, we couldn't just let him get away. I'm sorry if he was your friend but he had to pay for what he has done."

I could only mouth the words. "You…killed…Laurent?"

He nodded. "Well, it was a group effort," he qualified. "Please, don't be to upset--"

But I cut him off before he could finish, "Jacob, I'm not upset, I'm relieved, but also just astonished. I never knew there was anything that existed that was strong enough to kill a vampire, well except for another vampire of course."

"Don't worry, like I already said, Seth and I are here just to protect you and help you, we don't want to hurt you or kill you. Please don't be afraid." he pleaded to me.

At first all I could do was to stare at him incredulously, and then I burst out in laughter. I couldn't help but to notice that my laugh sounded like a sweet melody of ringing bells. When I finally ceased my laughter I could hardly believe that Jake thought I was scared of him and Seth! "Jake the only thing I am afraid of is of hurting you or Seth, but I'm not afraid _of you,_ not at all really." In fact the more I thought about it the more I got angry, Jake and Seth shouldn't be out here alone with me. They should be with the rest of the pack which brings me to my next question. "Jake why isn't the rest of the pack here? You said that it takes a big pack to bring down a vampire, and you are here putting yourself at risk by being alone with me. I'm too dangerous for you!" I was getting louder as I spoke.

"Look Bella, the pack knew what you were becoming when we realized that we were too late. While you were unconscious the pack and I were talking about what to do with you. Sam had heard other Quileute legends that spoke of how the cold ones were made, and how they act when they are new. Sam had said that newborn vampires went through a process of change for about three to four days in which they experience great pain. He said that once the pain has ceased then the process is complete and they are full vampires but, when they are new vampires they are more irritable, more stronger, and more likely to attack an innocent. Sam and the others wanted to kill you, they saw you as too much of a threat to let go. They wanted to kill you before the process was complete." Jake had paused, his entire body was shaking. I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Seth ran up to Jacob's side and put his hand on one of his shoulders, "Yo man, calm down! Now is not the time to lose control!"

Jake took a few slow deep breaths in and soon stopped shaking. Seth let go of Jacob's arm and walked back over to where he was first standing.

Jacob stood there a moment longer before he spoke again, "I couldn't let it happen, no I wouldn't let them touch you. I don't care what you are Bella, I made a promise to you that I would never hurt you and I meant it, I still do mean it. And I wasn't about to let anyone else harm you if I could help it. Of course the others were mad, Sam wasn't going to let you live, so I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed you and ran, and as I was running, Seth joined me. Apparently he disobeyed orders. Seth was suppose to be at home while we were out hunting for the bloodsucker but, he wanted to help out so bad that he decided to come join us. Only by time he found us we were already arguing over you. When I left he joined me, though I told him to go back home many times now." at this point Jake turned and glared at Seth. "But clearly Seth is too stubborn to listen."

Seth spoke up in order to defend himself, "Hey man, I wasn't going to let you go on your own. You would need my hand if things got out of control, besides I care about Bella too. I wouldn't want anything to happen to her either, I had no choice but to join you."

This new bit of information only made me feel worse. It made me feel more guilty. Not only was I putting them in danger but I was the reason why they left their families, why they were no longer with the rest of the pack. I was a horrible being! Laurent should have finished me off while he had the chance, everyone would have been better off that way. Why did I always have to cause so much chaos?

The sound of Jacob's voice brought my mind back to focus, "We ran for a long time, until I felt that we were far enough away that the pack wouldn't come out this far to look for us. While you were out, I sent Seth to find the closest street, he said when he got there he saw a sign that said 'Welcome to Vienna, Canada" his voice was so low that his words would have been inaudible to human ears.

I wasn't sure of what to say, so I asked the next question on my mind, "How long have I been out?"

Jacob answered in a more audible voice than before, "Three days." There was silence for a moment, "So how do you feel?"

I considered this for the briefest moment before I answered, "Overwhelmed. There seems to be just so much to take in all at once." And as I stood there trying to sort through my feelings, I felt a hunger, no it was a thirst. "I don't want to alarm either one of you but I'm thirsty."

At this Jacob grinned and said delightedly, "Well, lets go hunt!" and started to walk off deeper into the woods.


End file.
